On the mechanism of the radiation influence upon the structure and thermodynamic properties of water

Abstract

In the current work the results of the study of the α -particle irradiation influence on water are presented. To quantify the changes in the structure and macroscopic parameters of water when irradiated by the α -particles with the energies in the range from 0.05 to 0.25 keV p/particle the molecular dynamic simulation is used. To interpret the obtained numerical results the theoretical model based on the fundamental Bogolyubov chain of equations is applied. Comparison of the current results with the existing simulation and experimental data confirms that the changes in the structural and thermodynamic properties of water under the irradiation in the stationary state are due to the distortion of the momentum distribution function of the system. The obtained results suggest that the proposed parameter “effective temperature” that is the analogue of the thermodynamic temperature for the case of the nonequilibrium system in the stationary state allows quantifying the changes in the structure and thermodynamic properties of water under the irradiation.